Batman: Fixation
by MissScorp
Summary: Dr. Jonathan Crane has found himself a new fixation and the Scarecrow wants to know just who she is... one-shot. *Complete*


**A/N:** Hello m'dears… I hope that the week has been a good one to you.

To all new followers, welcome! Please, if you like this story, click the favorite button. Also, reviews are deeply cherished!

**S/N:** This one-shot is set after my story **Batman: City of Fear**, but is set before **The Infatuation of Dr. Jonathan Crane** and **Batman & Robin: Inceptive**.

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_She_ was speaking to one of the asylum's inept guards (he vaguely recalled the man's name was Gibbons) at the security desk. He might not have noticed her, focused as he was upon getting to his _office_ (which was really nothing more than a small crawl space he'd found between the elevators in the Secure Transit area of the Intensive Treatment building) so that he could input his latest research data into his computer. Something about her, though, captured his attention. What it was, he could not say. As he stood at the opposite end of the hall, pondering this rather curious state in which he'd found himself, Dr. Jonathan Crane took a moment to study the young woman. It wasn't as if the dark haired woman was some raving beauty (not that it would have mattered to him), or some well-known researcher who was worth his time and attention (and of those there were very few).

Oh, he assumed she was lovely enough. Her hair was like spilled ink. Dark and curling, it only added a dramatic flair against skin that was like fresh cream. Her dress, a deep shade of blue with a crimson undertone, clung to her sinuous body. The needle-thin heels she wore made her legs seem incredibly longer than they were, and the simple, but tasteful gold earrings at her ears displayed a taste for simplicity. She was exceptionally young (Crane imagined she was no more than twenty-three or four), oozed with sophistication and class, polish and good breeding.

Yet, the woman's physical charms did not explain just why he was so captivated by her. The reason was just something that the disgraced doctor could not readily comprehend. His body was humming, singing, tingling with sensations that were really quite... _delicious_. There was an unusual heat cascading through him, warming his blood and electrifying his senses. He could feel the Scarecrow slithering back into the shadowy recesses of his mind with a low, moist hiss. It was a heady, intoxicating, and distinctly _liberating_ feeling for a man such as him. Suddenly, Jonathan realized how he'd been missing out on one of the great wonders of life: _attraction_. His first (and only) experience with sexual desire had been a complete and utter failure. _Not that it matters_, Jonathan thought, a smug smile curving his lips. He'd taught Sherry Squires and Bo Griggs a lesson. A lesson which Squires took to her grave and which put Briggs in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Now that was a fond memory, he thought, lips curving pleasantly. It was the first time he not only donned the mask, but allowed the Scarecrow his freedom to do what Jonathan himself could not. After that he'd been too fixed upon his research to concern himself with the trivialities of the human mating practice. Ah, but for too long had he been parched of thirst and refusing to quench it. Too long had he been starving and not died from the lack of sustenance. For too long he'd felt... _nothing_. Not the wind on his face or the sun upon his skin. Never had he partaken of the so-called pleasures that were to be found in a woman's body. He had not cared too until this fascinating creature arrived to tempt him as Adam had been tempted by Eve.

This was proving to be a truly extraordinary affair. The woman, whoever she was, was proving to be the most fascinating specimen he'd encountered in a great long while. However, as Jonathan stood there, silently contemplating how he was going to end his self-imposed fast, he realized that there was something strangely… _familiar_ about the young doctor. At first, he imagined it was because she looked a lot like the Quinn woman had when she'd first come to work at Arkham (sweet, innocent and pure).

Then the woman turned and Crane caught a glimpse of jade as her eyes flicked over the waiting patients, the guards and staff and civilians who were loitering around the transit area. Intelligence flashed bright and was met with cool self-confidence and a veiled hint of mystery that only served to prick his interest in the enchantress even more. But then Jonathan's eyes narrowed as he studied that alabaster face, those glittering orbs. He'd only met one other who had had eyes that exact shade of green. He felt his heart beat with a different sort of anticipation now. One that was darker, more sinister in nature.

Could _she_ be that little twit who'd set him on fire with a flare close to ten years ago? he found himself wondering now. That fourteen-year-old brat would be about the same age as this young woman appeared to be. It was, indeed, highly possible that they were one and the same person. His lucent eyes gleamed in the shadows. Jonathan felt a shift deep with himself. Felt the _Scarecrow_ struggling to rise to the surface. He could feel that darker side of himself swelling to life within him, trying to oust him, to seize control of him. As if he was going to allow that to happen! Not when he had things to do, and research data to gather!

Discovering if this young woman was, in fact, the granddaughter of the renowned Neuropsychiatrist (and creator of a fabulous new behavioral modification agent called _Inceptive_) Dr. Matthew Berkeley Sr. was an idea that appealed to him almost as much as getting close to the doctor herself, did. A silver haired doctor Jonathan did not recognize (and made a mental note to become acquainted with later) appeared to escort the young lady down the corridor that snaked off from the one he was hiding in. He unwound his lanky frame and scuttled down the hall after them, listening to her converse in a voice which reminded him of spiced cider. He briefly considered luring the woman into one of the empty cells. He could inject her with a dose of his fear toxin and get the information that he desired from her.

"_Ah, but what fun would that be_?" his other side asked him.

Jonathan's lips curled. Scarecrow was right. What fun would it be to confront her now? The experiment would be over if he made his approach this soon. Better to wait, to bide his time, to begin establishing the parameters of the study he wished to conduct. There were all sorts of things he still needed to take into account before beginning his new experiment. He needed to give thought to the topic he desired to research. He needed to carefully select the research method he would use to test his variables. He needed to set the parameters of his particular method and stage how the experiment was going to be conducted, and by whom. He needed to take all the possible outliers and confounding variables into consideration in order to ensure his results were conclusive, valid and reputable.

He needed to know if she was Raya Berkeley so that he could have her, her grandfather's copiously wondrous agent, and his vengeance upon the dark knight all in one go.

_Scarecrow_ let loose a high pitched cackle that sent chills down the spine of the very woman that _Jonathan_ _Crane_ had just become fixated upon.


End file.
